TORONTO – Canadian indie producer Thunderbird Films and New Zealand’s Flux Animation Studios and Ireland’s Telegael are to co-produce the CGI pre-school series Wiki The Kiwi.

Around 78 seven-minute episodes are on the drawing board for a kids series about a bird who cannot fly, but befriends a bat who can.

The deal was unveiled in Cannes by Thunderbird Films president Michael Shepard,Paul Cummins, CEO of Telegael and Geoff Watson, executive producer for Flux Animation, for whom the Kiwi bird is New Zealand’s national hero.

Thunderbird finding Wiki the Kiwi follows the Vancouver-based producer opening a Los Angeles office led by former Porchlight Entertainment exec Joe Broido and receiving a major investment from Lionsgate founder Frank Guistra.